The British bike thread

You had me doubting my sanity for a while there. Thanks for that. ;)

But no, it is a Record Ace. I did a quick online search and found others. They are in Germany, France and Holland, so it may have been a continent-only version.

This one was sold on Catawiki recently:

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My 1980 RRA is a French import, team colours. Tight with 25s and mudguards, very different to our UK ice green 27" wheel bike. The later version got 700s and side pulls. Everyday a school day 👍
 
Very similar to my dad's bike. I suspect he'd gone for some options or changed things later, his had a quick release toggle chain a Swallow saddle and a Williams crank set. Decades of use by him and myself over which it suffered multiple strippings and both hand and rattle-can resprays, a change to fixed wheel and 27" from the original 26x1 1/4 by myself (which wrecked the handling), a cracked rear drop out (repaired by Charlie Bean at Fenton Cycles), most of it disappeared sometime in the 1990s. The saddle is in a crate of parts I've just recovered from my parent's garage and the 4 speed hub is fitted on one of the bikes which I will eventually get around to stripping for salvage. He's now 93 and can't stand or walk without aid so there's no way he'll ever ride a bike again. The garage currently contains the remains of 5 bikes* - a 1950s step-through Viking (my mother's which she reckoned cost her £26), a modernised (for the 1980s) Moulton Deluxe (frame number left side of seat tube collar appears to be 741111) and 3 bikes based on 1980s Carlton Clubman frames. Judging on my lack of impact on the junk in the place over the last couple of days it'll be some months before I work out what is actually there. Certainly some Weinmann 27" alloy rims and another pair which (from what I can see) are possibly Super Champion or Rigida.

* 5 bikes of interest here. There's also a modern ladies bike of some sort.
 
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